1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system and method for classifying drivers by relating driver body sizes to the best possible crash safety performance that could be provided by a select set of driver protection designs, and more particularly to a system and method for classifying drivers by relating body height and mass information to the best possible crash safety performance. A control algorithm is also proposed using the method to enable a vehicle to automatically select the best driver protection design for individual drivers.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Modern vehicles often include systems for automatically setting various components and features in the vehicle for a particular vehicle driver and/or passenger, many of which are based on the size of the driver and the personal preferences of the driver. Particularly, modern vehicles are generally designed to allow persons of varying sizes and preferences to adjust features of vehicle systems for each person's comfort, convenience and operation needs. These vehicle features can include vehicle seats, foot pedals, rear-view mirrors, steering columns, etc. To reduce the burden of readjusting the selected features of a vehicle, some vehicles employ a memory system that stores the preferred settings for one or more users that is configured to automatically adjust the vehicle systems to the preferred settings upon request.
Modern vehicles also include a number of safety devices that protect the vehicle occupants during a crash event, such as airbag systems and seatbelt systems. Vehicle airbag systems are complex systems that are designed to protect the vehicle occupants. For example, airbag systems need to be designed so that they are not activated unless the crash event is significant enough, they are not activated unless the crash event is from the proper direction, the airbag is deployed fast enough during the crash event, the airbag is filled with enough gas to protect the vehicle occupant during the crash event and the airbag is properly vented so that the gas can escape from the airbag with the proper flow rate when the vehicle occupant is forced against the airbag so as dissipate the kinetic energy of the occupant without causing high rebound speed.
Vehicle seatbelt systems may be also equipped with a load-limiter that limits the load on the seatbelt so that it provides proper restraint forces to protect the belted occupant in a crash event. Particularly, during a crash event where the seatbelt wearer may be forced into the seatbelt with high inertia force, the load-limiter allows the seatbelt to extend or give a certain amount so that the seatbelt force during the event is high enough to provide the needed restraint, but not to cause injury to the wearer.
Typically, the airbag filling and venting rate, the seatbelt load-limiter tension and other safety features in the vehicle are set for an “average” person and may not be optimized for persons of lower weights and sizes and persons of higher weights and sizes. Therefore, it would be ideal to provide a system and method that personalizes the driver safety features on a vehicle for different individuals that can be set and stored much in the same way as other vehicle features.
Practically, it may be desirable to provide a classification system and method that personalizes the driver safety features on a vehicle to only a finite set of classes for different clusters of individuals that can be set and stored much in the same way as the other vehicle features referred to above.